herr2ck: August 2025

Bottom of the Barrel

August 2025.

Hitchcock Hall is probably the most infamous of the Modernist engineering campus buildings. Everyone I have talked to about it despises the building. It doesn’t help that Hitchcock is a poorly designed series of brick boxes with no windows, too. Hitchcock Hall is located on north campus, bordered by Woodruff Avenue, Mason Hall, and Schoenbaum Hall to the north; the Physics Research Building to the east, and Knowlton Hall to the west. It is attached to Bolz Hall, which extends southward.

History

WOSU’s original radio towers. (Historic OSU Map)

Prior to Hitchcock Hall’s construction, the site had two earlier usages. First, the radio towers for WOSU occupied the site starting in 1925. A concrete demolition date is not present, but they were likely razed with the “radio shack” for the construction of Bolz Hall. Second, after World War II, three small frame buildings called the “Engineering Annexes” were moved from Wright Field to Hitchcock Hall’s future site. These were definitively demolished during 1958 to clear the site for Bolz Hall.

SCS’ rendering of Hitchcock Hall. (Knowlton Archives)

Hitchcock Hall was designed in 1965 by Schooley, Cornelius, and Schooley (Schooley Caldwell today) as “Engineering Classrooms and Laboratories.” Framed in reinforced concrete and clad in brick and precast concrete, the building is in the Mid-Century Modern style. Construction began that June, the general contractor being Knowlton Construction Co., and the building was ready for occupancy on February 23, 1967. At a cost of about $2.4 million, Hitchcock Hall has 75,921 square feet of space.

Hitchcock Hall, Bolz Hall, and Caldwell Lab. Note the uncomfortable-looking concrete benches out front. (Buckeye Stroll)

Hitchcock Hall doesn’t really have any history after its construction. The building appears mostly original, beyond the reworked landscaping and plaza out front.

Embury Hitchcock, 1920. (Buckeye Stroll)

Hitchcock Hall is named after Embury Hitchcock, an engineer who was an expert in natural gas and pioneered hydroelectric power in Tennessee. He started his career at Ohio State in 1893 as a professor of mechanical engineering, working his way up to dean of the College of Engineering from 1920 until his retirement in 1936.

Photos

Hitchcock’s principal west façade is difficult to capture in its entirety, due to Knowlton and the Northwest Garage creating a kind of choke point. This was the photo I took the day I visited:

This one from March 2024 is much better:

I’ll acknowledge the texturing and materials here are better than standard Modernist fare, but I really despise that massive windowless tumor that dominates the majority of the façade here. It creates dark and depressing classrooms.

These planters are new, and in my opinion they liven up these otherwise bland concrete stairs excellently:

Also nearby the entrance is this funky steel sculpture, which I believe represents the varying ways to join steel members:

The main entrance and its concrete portico:

I admittedly like this part too. It’s very dematerialized, yet separates itself from the main facade and emphasizes its nature as an entrance.

If you look closely at the underside, you can see the wood grain from the formwork:

Funky fenestration on the ground floor bays:

I still can’t get over how ugly this part is.

Concrete rising out of greenery:

This cantilever isn’t even graceful like the ones on Baker Systems or the Journalism Building. It has no piers to give it appropriate visual weight; it ends as abruptly as it begins.

Cool photography opportunity, but I still don’t really like it:

At least the massing on the west side is rational--up north, any sort of simplicity or purity goes straight out the window:

I guess form really does follow function after all. Otherwise, why would there be so many boxes of differing heights and sizes placed seemingly so arbitrarily?

This north entrance is appropriate for the building’s character, but the sheet-metal cladding makes me think it was a later modification:

I like this enclosure for the systems on the east side:

Hitchcock isn’t aging very gracefully, either--lots of grime and weeping from the copper flashing (I think that’s why it’s green):

The main east entrance retains the original brutal concrete plaza:

Okay, this is much more reasonable for Modernist stuff. Simple forms and fenestration, expressing the column grid and floor plates.

It’s so odd that the stairs just have their own tower:

Last one before going inside…here’s the classic “scarlet sign”:

The lobby--it was really busy that day:

Standard hallway inside (second floor here):

I have never understood these stairs. Why is there a crappy drop ceiling on the bottom of the flights?!

The fourth floor hallway is much tighter. This is where the department headquarters and offices are:

Ancient memorabilia on the walls:

This wall is probably the newest part of the building:

The basement has this study area:

I had a few classes in the lecture halls down here:

The basement was much larger than I thought, though. Lots of labs and branching hallways.

Hitchcock Hall will be renovated soon, according to Framework 3.0.

Sources:

https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/24059

https://library.osu.edu/site/buckeyestroll/

https://knowltondl.osu.edu/Browse/objects/facet/collection_facet/id/18

https://maps.osu.edu/historic/

https://pare.osu.edu/framework

Phagocytosis

August 2025.

The Journalism Building looks like a baby Baker Systems, its neighbor across the way, and they were in fact designed by the same architect. What I didn’t know, though, is that the building is an instance of an existing structure being gutted and redesigned in a newer style, which was ubiquitous during the mid-century era but pretty rare on campus. (The only other project I can think of that does this is the ongoing engineering campus renovations, which are doing the same to the Mid-Century Modern Fontana and MacQuigg Labs.)

The Journalism Building is located within the engineering sector of north campus, attached to Caldwell Lab to the north and bordered by Cockins Hall and the Mathematics Building to the south, Scott Lab to the east, and Baker Systems and Dreese Labs to the west.

History

The Journalism Building under construction in 1924. (Buckeye Stroll)

The Journalism Building was designed in 1923 by university architect Joseph N. Bradford in a pretty spartan Stripped Classical style. The original building was built with a concrete frame and brick exterior. Construction began in July and concluded a year later in 1924. The Lantern began printing in the building in July 1924.

The Journalism Building’s original footprint.

The Journalism Building as it appeared in the 1960s. (Knowlton Archives)

University architect Howard Dwight Smith designed an addition in 1938, which hugged the original building to the north and west. This area holds the post office. Its construction started that October and the addition’s final estimates were approved by November 6, 1939. A smaller second addition, which is now part of Caldwell Lab, was built immediately afterwards and finished on April 18, 1940.

The Journalism Building after its first and second additions.

The University Print Shop, which was housed in the Journalism Building from its construction, moved to Kenny Road off-campus in 1968.

Proposed perspective view of Croce and Abbot’s modifications to the Journalism Building c. 1968. Note the greater height, larger footprint, and different concrete piers. (Knowlton Archives)

In 1971, Croce and Abbot’s plans for an addition were approved. Designed in a much different Mid-Century Modern style, it added a significant amount of space to the building and obscured almost all traces of the original, as much of the façade was engulfed by the new design. It was widened by about ¼ the original size and a third floor was added. John Herrick didn’t note a date of completion, but the School of Journalism moved in during December 1973, despite the building being unfinished. Its dedication was on September 19-21, 1974. This brought the Journalism Building to its current size of 49,591 square feet.

The Journalism Building’s first (left) and second (right) floors after their modification.

The Journalism Building as it was built, undated. (Buckeye Stroll)

The Journalism Building was renovated in 2010 by Annette Miller Architects, Inc. They modernized the lobby and interior, upgraded an unused library space to offices for the College of Arts and Sciences, and converted an old TV production studio into a large lecture hall.

Photos

Looking southeast at the western façade:

See what I mean about it appearing identical to Baker Systems? They have the same expression (piers and boxy Modern design), materiality, fenestration, and massing.

Another view northeast:

It’s hard to see with all the foliage, but this part of the south façade is entirely brick. How boring.

Nice cantilever, though:

At least this part has windows, albeit tiny, punched ones:

Detail:

The sloping sills are kind of odd, too.

This area is where the university’s post office is located:

I think this area in the loading dock is the only recognizable portion of the original building:

Note the differently-colored brick and older windows.

I liked this view down the piers:

This building does have its flaws, but this is my favorite part.

Here’s a standard hallway inside the building:

It’s obviously been updated at some point, as the floor, painted CMU walls, and troffers seem a little too new for this 1970s renovation. Here is the more recently renovated study area: